I
was on sabbatical from the hobby when all of these issues were
originally published, so this was all new to me. After purchasing
eleven of these chunky trade paperbacks (five Complete
Clone Saga Epic and six Complete Ben Reilly Epics) and
reading eight of them (while currently working on the ninth), I must
say that these are some solid, enjoyable comic books. I would
honestly rather read about Ben Reilly than Doc Ock inhabiting Peter
Parker's mind, the so-called Superior Spider-Man.

The
writing and artwork are good, although some dated aspects of the '90s
rear their head every now and again. This is acceptable, since some
of those pop culture references in the '60s comics don't hold up much
better today. The biggest drawback that this material has going for
it is the hand lettering. Lettering took a turn for the worse during
this decade, so much so that Richard Starking and ComiCraft's
computerized fonts were a breath of fresh air. The then-state of the
art computer color separations look limited by today's standards, but
one must take into account how revolutionary these were at the time.
No longer were comics limited to four colors or even the expanded
palette of the flexograph printing process. The sky was now the limit
and the colorists went wild.

The
thing about the writing that blows me away is how tight a ship
editorial must have run at this time. Nearly every month was a four
part crossover, running across all four titles, meaning that you had
a new “chapter” each week. More amazing still is how there is not
one continuity gaffe here, despite the fact that each book had it's
own individual writer. That's just crazy. We saw something similar,
albeit on more of a rotating arc basis, with the Spidey Brain Trust
of writers in the Brand New Day era of Amazing Spider-Man.
It must have sucked for fans in the '90s being forced to buy all four
titles every month, though.

There
are many enjoyable moments throughout the book. Peter Parker loses
his super powers, seemingly setting the stage for Ben Reilly to take
over as the one and only Spider-Man forever. The Mad Thinker/ Silver
Surfer/ Quasimodo story in Spider-Man
Team-Up # 2 was a blast. I love the
juggling act of the “game” which involved Kane and the Rhino. The
Spider-Man skeleton found in the smokestack where Peter dumped the
clone comes back to haunt him. The skeleton is proven to be another
clone. If you listen closely, you can still hear faint echoes of
fanboys gnashing their teeth across the ether. Jessica is proving to
be an interesting love interest for Ben. Things come to a head with
her in the next book. The Carnage/Spider-Carnage arc is great.
There is an overall sense of fun here, with heroes being heroic. Sad
to say that this seems like a novelty in this day and age. Not
everything is roses here. The Ravencroft Institute is blatant ripoff
of the Arkham Asylum over at DC, for instance. There is more to rave
about than complain about, though.

This
was a very enjoyable read. I can't see why fans hated the Clone
Saga so much. Sure, it may have gone on for a good while, but the
stories and artwork were solid enough. There is a huge uptick in the
artwork in this book over volume 2. I just hope that Marvel doesn't
go and slap all of these in Omnibus hardcovers now that I have
bought them all. Knowing their propensity for double dipping I'm
certain that my money will leave my wallet again for this same
material...and I'll thank them for it. Kill me.

Junk
Food For Thought rating: 4.25 out of 5.

The
OCD zone- I love these chunky trades. 432 pages of full color
goodness! Bring on the Epic line!

Linework
and Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5. There are a few pages
that look merely good, but all in all everything is excellent.

Paper
rating: 4 out of 5. Thin glossy stock. I'm not crazy about it but
it holds the color well and the thinner stock helps...

Binding
rating: 4.25 out of 5. ...the book to lay completely flat. The
binding, combined with the thickness of the book due to the page
count, gives this book a malleability that allows it lay flat in one
hand like a giant periodical, which is just incredible for a
softcover book.

Cardstock
cover coating rating: 5 out of 5. I love the thick, waxlike
lamination that Marvel uses on their cardstock covers.

3 comments:

I agree. I've only read through the first 5 complete clone saga tpb's so far and I've found them great fun. My only problem was them putting that "Ben Reilly Year One" book in the first volume which completely spoiled the next two years worth of stories!

Your comment on this book's tight editing bring up a really interesting point: that as reviled as the Clone Saga was by some people, it's not because it had and inconsistent or incoherent plot. That's a pretty impressive feat, given the way that much smaller crossovers in more recent years (Infinite Crisis, Civil War, etc.) have been filled with major gaffes in continuity and characterization.

As for the Omnibus format...I'm sure it'll happen for the Clone Saga at some point. Maybe even soon, now that they've finished restoring all of it for the trades. But honestly, this is something I'd rather own as a series of smaller volumes. It's just more sensible and makes for an easier reading experience, especially given the short nature of most of the story arcs. Plus, there's little to be gained by enlarging most of the artwork.

It's funny how time changes your perspective: at the time, people (with me among them) couldn't wait for this to be over and the status quo to return with many doubting it ever would. Fifteen years later, in hindsight, we know of course it would: it always does.

So, now, when a book or character has a dramatic change (like the current "Superior Spider-Man"), I say keep running with it as long as possible. Because you can never realistically "reclaim" that scenario. You can put Spidey back in the black costume again for the 9th time but, honestly, character wise Peter Parker would never choose to go that route based on how the original symbiote/Venom story played out. Likewise, Doc Ock can never secretly possess Peter Parker's body and assume the Spidey identity again "realistically" without being an even more absurd scenario than it currently is.

So even if a new status quo "shakeup" is (likely) "less than" the traditional, at least it's something different that can never truly be restored... unlike the 50 year old status quo that always can and, historically, always WILL be.